Unsinkable
by Mayclore
Summary: There is nothing Chiyoda won't do to keep her sister around... including nothing at all.


"Isn't this exciting?"

This was only the tenth time Chiyoda had asked her sister this question, and each repetition made it harder for Chitose to mask her annoyance. "Yes it is… like I said earlier..." she replied with a strained smile. "How much sugar did you put in your coffee this morning?"

She giggled with glee. "None! I'm just so thrilled to be an official carrier!"

"I don't think this is going to be as awesome as you think it is." Their surroundings made her feel even worse about their prospects: both ships were in the middle of the open ocean, alone, at night, with only some small islands for company. "What kind of expedition is this?"

"It's not one, really, it's just a patrol." A smiling Chiyoda basked in the glory of the sea of stars above. "Oh, we should send out scouts."

"Probably." Chitose reached into the huge wooden box on her right and attached a fighter to the marionette holder in her left hand. "You know what to do," she mumbled to it, casting it away. Chiyoda did much the same, save with a tremendous amount of happy noises thrown into the bargain. "How can you be so chipper? It's midnight. We've been awake for a day."

She finished tossing a plane into the night before answering. "I can't help it! I'm so excited! I've always wanted to be a carrier like Houshou, you know? Now I am! I mean, mostly."

"Well, at least one of us is happy to be here." Suddenly, Chiyoda looked heartbroken. "No no no, that's not what I meant! I just meant I'd really rather be in bed right now. I'm sleepy as hell."

That seemed to smooth things over. "Don't worry, sissy! I'm awake enough for the both of us!"

Chitose swallowed, unnerved by the terrific glimmer in her sister's eyes. "Uh, okay. If you say so." She needed to take the edge off of her sleepiness – and chose the worst possible way of doing it. "I hope I brought enough for the trip," she sighed, reaching into her plane case and grabbing a can of beer.

Chiyoda was horrified. "Chitose! You can't drink on the job!"

"Oh, calm down. It's only one can." She wasn't buying it, and Chitose knew she had good reason not to. "I promise! Jun'You isn't around! There's nobody for me to get into a drinking contest with."

The other carrier crossed her arms and glared. "As if you need that excuse to get hammered. Sissy, we really need to talk about your drinking, uh, habit."

"Right now?" she asked between swallows of beer.

"Sometimes I just can't believe you, sissy."

They set it aside to focus on the task at hand – what of it there was, anyway. Their scouts reported back every five minutes, each time with the same information: nothing spotted. Despite her earlier energy, Chiyoda was beginning to yawn. "Hey. Hey." Chitose lightly smacked her on the shoulder, then offered her a can of beer when she looked. "Want one?"

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Won't that just make me sleepier? Are you trying to end the patrol early?"

"Just trying to help. I mean, I know alcohol keeps _me_ awake, but..." She relented as her logic fell apart and frowned. "Never mind."

Chiyoda stared at her for a long while. "Chitose! When we get home I'm cleaning out the refrigerator!"

"No! Not my imported ales! I had to get the Admiral's help to get them through customs!"

Their attention fully engulfed by the argument, neither carrier noticed the little black bump in the ocean behind them, trailing out strands of ebony hair and emitting little bubbles. An Abyssal submarine breached the surface gently and watched their scuffle for a few moments, her head tilting back and forth. After becoming bored, she launched a single torpedo at Chitose and skulked away under the water. The carrier literally didn't know what hit her when the explosion occurred. "Sissy!" Chiyoda shrieked. Her sister's clothes were almost totally blown off with the force. "Noooooooooooo!"

"Uh oh," she wheezed through the pain. "I'm taking..." A sensation made her look down – the ocean had swallowed her up to her knees in mere seconds. "Taking on water. Oh. Well… guess I'll be seeing you..."

Fueled by terror, Chiyoda grabbed her by the arms and started to tow. "No! You can't sink! You can't—Chitose! Don't leave me!" she begged, tears streaming down her face. Each passing second made it harder for her to keep her sister above water. "Noooooooooooo!" With a tremendous burst of strength, she threw the carrier toward a nearby island and shoved instead of pulling.

"Chiyoda… you can take it from… from..." She couldn't finish the sentence; Chiyoda had crumpled her up against the ground in the process of pushing her onto the shore.

"No no no no no no," she repeated, smacking the emergency release on Chitose's equipment before doing the same to her own. Their fairy crews spilled out onto the island and moved around in a confused daze.

"Unnnnnnnnnngh..."

"It's okay, sissy, I beached you." Chiyoda dropped to her hands and knees to get a better look at the damage. "Sissy?" Chitose was in a dreadful state, bruised all over and leaking fuel oil from her mouth. She tugged the battered carrier into the recovery position. "Are y-y-you still with me?"

"Aaaaannnh?" she moaned in reply, eyes cloudy and dull. Her crew gathered around her on the sand, trying to hug or pet her back to health. "Agh…"

She was still alive, however, and that was all Chiyoda needed. "Okay. It's going to be okay." A quick look at the island offered little in the way of hope – there were a few palm trees swaying in the breeze, and that was about it. "Oh, coconuts. I like coconuts. Do you?"

Chitose had fallen silent, but her labored breathing was easy to see.

"Hmm, maybe not. You only like cocktails with coconuts, don't you." Chiyoda giggled to herself, though internally she struggled to maintain her grip on the situation. "What am I supposed to do? I can't tow you back by myself." She stared at her equipment, scattered across the beach. "I'll radio for help. One of you little ones help me, okay?" A fairy jumped into the superstructure as she walked over. "H-hello? Chiyoda here. Is anyone… can anyone hear me?"

"Aren't you under radio silence?" the calm, soothing voice of Houshou asked. "What happened?"

"H-hi mom. Um, Chitose got hit by something and I think she's about to die." Admitting this out loud blew away her comfortable, numb fog. She began to wail at the top of her lungs. "Mom, help me! Please help me!"

"Oh, oh no, oh goodness—send me your position and I'll dispatch a rescue team right away!"

"Navigator!" she yelled, searching her fairy complement. "Coordinates!" She took a tiny sliver of paper from one fairy and read off it out loud. "Twenty-two miles east-northeast of—I can't read your handwriting…" Chiyoda paused to suck air through her mouth and wipe her eyes. "Just go to the radio room and tell her yourself."

Once Houshou had the coordinates, however, there was another problem. "Ah, Chiyoda? This is several hours' sailing. Is Chitose going to float that long?"

Crushed by the weight of her situation, she curled up into a ball and hugged her knees. "I b-beached her. She's still alive. Tell them to bring Akashi so we can fix her."

"How bad is the damage?"

"If I hadn't pulled her onto shore she would have-" Even saying the word "sunk" was too hard. It came out as a choked sob. "Mom..."

"Chiyoda, there might not be anything we can do."

The numbness came flowing back into her mind, though now it was colder and sapped her will. "Please don't let her die, mom."

Houshou's heart clenched so hard it must have been audible. "They're on their way. Just hang in there."

Chiyoda was now alone with the crushing weight of her misery – and the wheezing pain of her sister some feet away. She found the strength to crawl over and check on Chitose again, gently shooing away her terrified crew. "Sissy?" There were no words from her blue lips now, only moans. Determining how she felt by their tenor proved impossible. "It's all right, I'm here. Try to sleep, okay?" Chitose's damaged equipment wasn't too far away; to avoid the anguish for a little while she decided to examine it. "I wonder what happened to her."

Most apparent was the damage to the propulsion, which had been virtually annihilated by some sort of explosion. The rest of it, including her wooden plane case, was in good enough repair. She opened it and immediately saw the other five cans of beer. "Maybe I can get her to drink these..." But what she remembered of survival training said that alcohol was not a good idea. "Wait, this dehydrates you, doesn't it? Never mind." Heightened wheezing from behind made her glance back. "Sissy..." Selfish as it was, she grabbed the cans and walked back over. If nothing else, perhaps a drink would help Chitose feel better – which would help _herself_ feel better. "Sissy? Look what I found!"

By some miracle, the broken carrier actually opened her eyes. Whether or not she saw anything was anyone's guess.

"At least you're awake." Chiyoda cracked open a can and carefully tilted her head back. "Just a sip, okay? Too much might not be good for you." Even that taste was far beyond what Chitose could handle. The liquid seared her mouth and throat; each time she coughed, a fuel oil mist emerged. "Agh! Never mind! Never mind!" she yelped apologetically, hurling the can into the ocean. "You need oil. Do we have any extra?" Both fairy crews scrambled around to look, covering their equipment like adorable ants. Their search turned up only one possible option. "Aviation fuel? I don't think we can drink that." Desperation began to soak in. "What do I do? What do I do?" she yelled, clutching the sides of her head. With no adrenaline left to support her consciousness, Chiyoda's lack of sleep began to hit hard. "If I fall asleep she dies… if I don't fall asleep I die and then she dies and then we all die..." There were suddenly little taps on her sides and legs. "Huh?"

As one, the fairies jumped and waved, both at her and at Chitose. _We'll watch her_ , they said.

Thankful for the relief, even if it was small, Chiyoda nodded her approval and stood up. "Oh. Okay, yes, please. If anything happens, please wake me up." Her eyes lingered on Chitose for a small eternity. "Good night, sissy. I'll see you in the morning. I mean… I better."

Just after she collapsed against the trunk of a coconut palm, Chitose opened her eyes again. While they were clearer than before, they still glittered with agony. "Crew," she whispered as the fairies moved closer. "I have… an order for you." The little creatures all stopped and came to attention. "Scuttle me. Please make it stop."

* * *

Sleep for Chiyoda was just a fragmented, more vivid interpretation of waking reality. Had she not been so tired, the repeating image of Chitose's face disappearing beneath the ocean of her nightmares would have forced her to wake up every ten minutes. As such, she had to take it. Over and over, muttering under her breath and screaming more than once, unable to shirk the chains of her exhaustion. The very instant she had enough rest to function again, her brain smacked her awake. The first thing she noticed was that morning was on its way, arriving directly ahead of her on wings of red and gold. "Chitose!" she snapped. "Sissy?!" Her limbs needed a moment to reconnect themselves to her mind before she could use them. "Sissy! I'm here! Sissy!" She was exactly where Chiyoda had left her, and as a bonus she was even moving around a little. Fairies surrounded her on the beach. "Did something happen?"

Something had happened, all right: they had her covered in aircraft bombs and torpedoes, all rigged to each other with some sort of thin black wiring.

"What are you..." Chiyoda knew, of course. " _What are you doing_?!" The fairies scattered as she stormed over. "Why are you—are you going to scuttle her? Why? _Why_?"

Only her helmsman was brave enough to approach, silently explaining that Chitose was in immense pain and had asked them to do this for her.

"How dare you." Tears streaming, she started the awkward process of removing the explosives and throwing them aside. "I can't believe you would let them do such a thing!" she shrieked at Chitose's crew. "You helped? That's even worse! I should leave you here to starve!"

"Unnnnhh..."

"Don't jerk around, sissy, I'm trying to help you." A particular knot of wires frustrated her. "Hold on… hold on..." she whispered through clenched teeth.

"Let me die."

Chiyoda froze in place, mouth open in shock. Whatever hold she still had on reality slipped away. "No." she finally replied, her face becoming dark.

Chitose managed to look up at her with hazy eyes. "Everything hurts..."

"Good. It hurts because you're still alive." With the wiring and explosives clear, she pulled her sister into a tight hug. "I'm never letting you go, sissy. Never."

"Please..." she begged, coughing up a little oil.

"Never." Her hug got tighter – which caused Chitose to groan with pain – but she ignored that sound. "Never again. Never, ever, ever again, do you hear me?" The cowering fairies under the trees got her attention. "I wonder if we can eat them…" Her sister's crew ran in terror, but there was nowhere on then island for them to hide. "Isn't that _cute_?"

"Please kill me," Chitose breathed again, limp in her sister's arms.

"Stop whining!" she screamed. "I have to figure out how I'm going to keep us alive!" _Almost_ all of them, she reminded herself, staring at Chitose's terrified fairies as they hid on the other end of the little island. "Except you. You all can go to hell." She turned to her own crew. "You're lucky I need your help. Bring me the aviation fuel."

They obeyed, reluctantly, clamoring over their plane cases and siphoning the liquid from the tiny aircraft within. They brought it over in little green barrels, set them on the sand near her legs, and ran for their lives. Chiyoda picked one up and opened it with one hand. "You'd be proud of that move," she said, grinning wildly. "I can pop a can just as good as you." She approached laying Chitose down again with a little more care. "Easy now. Drink this for me."

"Chiyodaaaaaa..." The fuel went down bitter; she wanted to spit it up but her sister kept her mouth closed until she swallowed. "Mmmph."

"It can't taste that bad." Chiyoda took a sip herself and discovered it was worse than she imagined. "Gack! Ugh. Oh well." She tipped back the barrel and powered through. "We need the fluid, sissy."

"Let me sink."

"Shut up." She forced Chitose to drink a barrel of her own. "Akashi's going to be here soon. You have to fight."

"So cold…"

"Then lie in the sun for a while." Chiyoda stood and grabbed the web of bombs on her way. Once again, the fairies scattered as she got near. "You. All of you. Stay away from her or we're going to find out what happens when a ship girl stomps a fairy." She turned and threw a punch into the trunk of a nearby palm, causing a shower of coconuts to drop. "Use the torpedoes to drain these. I'll open them after I take another nap."

" _Chiyoda_!"

"Hmm?" She looked back with empty eyes to see the carrier struggling to pull herself toward the water. "Sissy, you are so stubborn." The wires in her hand suddenly had a lot more weight. "Fine. I'll just tie you to a tree until you get over yourself and calm down."

* * *

Even in the shade the air was oppressively hot – they slept because that was the only activity for which they could muster the strength. Chiyoda occupied one side of a palm, her sister the other, tied securely to it with the steel arresting cable that would normally help them command their planes. Chitose stopped begging only when she finally drifted into unconsciousness. Their wary crews kept watch, forming a circle and facing toward the sea. Chiyoda, meanwhile, was trapped in a cycle of hypnic jerks and catnaps. The silence from behind her had her too worried to really sleep. "Sissy?" she droned, elbowing the trunk.

"Ungh! Waaaaah..."

"Good, there you are." She wearily searched the blue sky. "I hope the Abyssals don't find us. We're in no state to fight, are we?" Glistening in the sunlight was her equipment, still in more or less pristine condition. "I mean, I could fight, I guess, but I'd rather sit here with you."

"Please let me die," Chitose breathed, weakly banging the back of her head against the trunk. "Everything hurts..."

"Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn. You're not going anywhere. I'm not going to let you go anywhere." Chiyoda relaxed against the trunk and sighed. "One day, we'll look back on this and laugh, you know? 'Remember that time I almost sank and you wouldn't let me?' Hee hee hee." Her giggling became uncontrollable laughter as bad memories flooded in. "Not like the Philippine Sea! Oh no." She paused to let her sister groan. "I know. Hilarious."

"Why won't you-"

"Because I love you and you're my sister, you dope! Your head must be full of cobwebs." Chiyoda picked up a lonely coconut and cracked it lightly against her forehead. "You want a beer?" Chitose only wheezed in reply. "Eh. Shouldn't drink one anyway."

She fought against her wiry bonds, but could not break them. There was too little strength left in her body. "Help me."

"I am helping you." Chiyoda bounced the coconut off her skull so hard it cracked along the seam. "Time for lunch!" she chirped, trying to take a bite out of it and failing miserably. Her fairy crew looked on with worry. "Forget it." They scrambled to get away as she threw it toward them. "You can have it."

"Chiyoda, please..."

By now she was used to hearing the suffering, and so was more easily able to brush it aside. "Oh, shut up. You know what, if you haven't died by now, you're not going to. Just relax. Sleep."

But it wasn't misery that had Chitose's attention – it was something out at sea. Something smiling and waving. "Who is…?"

"Huh?" Chiyoda registered at last that something wasn't right and looked back. Now she saw the incoming vessels. Not entirely convinced they weren't a mirage, she stumbled to her feet and walked toward them. "Who—what?"

"Heeeeeeeeeeey!" one of them shouted. "I heard you needed a hand!" She lifted one arm; a shiny green object dangled in her hand.

With that sight, Chiyoda's aching spirit was dragged back to its senses. "Akashi! Over here!"

Akashi and her fleet arrived like conquering heroes. Four destroyers – Murakumo, Shimakaze, Akebono, and Akatsuki – along with a pallid and terrified Houshou comprised the rescue party. While the destroyers circled the island, Akashi and Houshou ditched their propulsion and came ashore. "Oh!" Houshou gasped, rushing over to Chitose. "You poor child! Is she—alive?"

A whispered, miserable greeting was her answer. "Mom..."

"Good god!" Akashi exclaimed when she got there. "Why is she tied up?" Then she noticed the fairies. "And, uh, why are they so scared-looking?"

"I wouldn't let her die," Chiyoda explained tonelessly. "She wanted to die. I said no. Wasn't she silly? I told her help would get here."

"Uh, Chiyoda?" Akashi blinked, one hand raised a little. "Are _you_ okay?"

"Fix my sister so we can go, please."

"Right..." She dropped to one knee and pulled away the wires to examine Chitose. The repair ship wasn't prepared for the extent of the damage. "There's no way she'll float. We can't take her home. I could try to patch the holes, but man, there's so many." She paid special attention to her battered legs. "And her machinery is shot. This is bad. We might have to leave-" Someone's hands were on her shoulders; she looked back and saw a glassy-eyed, smiling Chiyoda. "-her here. W-what are you-"

"Fix her," Chiyoda whispered.

Akashi stared at her empty expression for a minute before trying to shrug away. "I don't think I can. I mean, I'm sorry, but-" And suddenly the carrier was nose-to-nose with her. "Um, Houshou. Help."

"Yes," she sighed, walking over. With gentle hands, she pulled Chiyoda aside and tried to get through. "It hurts me too, Chiyoda, but we have no choice." Clearly, though, she had mentally checked out. "Are you listening?"

"You have a repair bucket. Make her drink it."

Akashi waved her arms in denial. "There's no way she can drink that. I don't even know what it's made of, but I'm pretty sure it's not, you know, drinkable."

That wasn't going to stop her. Chiyoda took it from her and stormed over to the moaning Chitose. "Sissy, look. Take a sip of this," she urged, bringing the bucket to her blue lips. "Here." The liquid within, iridescent and glowing, had the consistency of water but looked nothing like it. It also had no flavor, if Chitose's lack of reaction was anything to go on. She swallowed it easily.

Despite that, nothing happened. In fact, after drinking it she became still and silent, resting limply against the palm. "Is she dead?" Akashi asked, scratching her head. A bitter look from Houshou made her shrink. "Hey, somebody had to ask."

"What's happening?" Chiyoda peered back at the repair ship for answers.

"Don't look at me. I don't think anyone's ever tried this before."

Chiyoda turned back and lightly slapped her sister's face. "Hey! Wake up! Maybe I should give you some more." She held off on this, instead choosing to try and shake some life into her instead. "Hellooooo, sissy. Sissy?" Reality arrived with a furious sting. "S-sissy?"

"Oh no," Houshou sighed, unable to watch the scene any longer.

Chitose slumped over and landed on her side. Chiyoda, squealing with grief, fell on her in a fierce hug. "No! Get up! Get up! Get _up_!" So tight was her embrace that she didn't notice her sister's body regain tension and life.

At least, not until Chitose whipped a vicious backhanded slap across her face. "Don't you _ever_ do that again!" she roared, color once again flooding her lips and face. "Do you realize how much that hurt?! Why didn't you let me die?"

"Why do you think?" Chiyoda whimpered, refusing to let go.

Thanks to the healing liquid, though, her pain faded quickly. With it went her anger, swept away by weakness and regret. "Sorry. Why didn't I sink?"

"You can't sink on land, I guess," Akashi pointed out. She wandered over to retrieve Chitose's damaged equipment. "Hey, put this on and take another sip. See if it fixes this too."

"Give me some time." Chitose tapped her sister on the shoulder. "Let go for a minute."

"No."

"...why did I even bother asking?" She stood up with Chiyoda still attached and regarded Houshou. "Hi, mom. I'm a mess, huh?"

She closed her eyes and smiled. "It's all right. We've all been there."

"Yeah..." Once more, Chitose tried to poke her sister into letting go. "It's fine. Really. You can stop trying to strangle me now." And she did, reluctantly, shedding her blue blazer and handing it over so the carrier would have some cover at least. "Thanks. Where's our-" Her fairies came swarming over. "There you are. Could you guys help Akashi with my stuff?"

As they did, Chiyoda's crew approached with far more wariness. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "Come here." She knelt as they clumped around her ankles and looked up. "I was scary, huh?" To a fairy, they all nodded. "Oops."

"Sis, you were terrifying," Chitose shifted on the balls of her feet as Akashi went about refitting her equipment. "I didn't know you could be such a hard ass."

"There are no lengths to which I wouldn't go for you."

Everyone looked at her in silence until her sister spoke again. "You weren't tempted to put me out of my misery? Not even once?"

Chiyoda stared into the far distance, tucking her hair behind an ear. "I would rather have you alive and suffering than dead and at peace," she said with narrow eyes.

A wide-eyed Houshou leaned over to whisper to Akashi and Chitose. "That girl scares me sometimes."

"Yeaaaaah," the other carrier agreed. "Then again, if she hadn't been so scary I might be dead right now." At Akashi's direction, she took another sip from the green bucket. "Can I cut this with some beer? It's got no flavor. Like milk, but worse somehow."

"Just take it straight," the repair ship advised, eying her mechanical bits. Through some unseen method, they reformed and repaired themselves – including her clothes – until Chitose was once more at maximum seaworthiness. "Wow. Maybe we should bottle this stuff and sell it for consumption."

"Assuming I don't die in a few days," Chitose quipped. Chiyoda, off to the side, fired a displeased look her way. "Just a joke."

"Whatever!" she chirped, donning her own equipment and picking up a few coconuts for the trip back. "Are we all ready to go?"

"I sure as hell am," her sister confirmed with a yawn.

"Let's be off," Houshou said with a wave. "Ah… Akashi, help me get these shoes back on, please..."

With their crews embarked and their plane cases in hand, Chitose and Chiyoda brought up the rear of the fleet, although Akatsuki was close by to provide protection should it be necessary. "What do you think hit me?" the former whispered.

Chiyoda's grin frayed the slightest bit. "Must have been a sub."

"Yeah. Damn things." On a whim, she reached into her case and rummaged around. "Hey, you kept my beer." Before grabbing a can, though, she froze. "Uh, can I have one?"

She rolled her eyes and kept on grinning. "...fine. Don't over do it, though, please."

"Me? Never," she said with a smirk before taking a sip. "Hey, uh, Chiyoda? Can I ask you something?"

Her sister was practically skipping along on the water. "Of course!"

"How long would you have let me suffer?"

"I wouldn't have let you die, if that's what you mean," she replied, her expression never changing.

Chitose's face screwed up. "It's not. Answer my question."

And then Chiyoda turned to her, beaming like the sun, and said, "Sissy, nothing is going to take you away from me. Not the Abyssals, not our crews, not the Admiral… not even _you_."


End file.
